Submarine Research @ USSHMJ.ORG

Welcome to Scoops Underwaterfront Diner

Welcome to my Navy Reserve
Information Kiosk. You can find information
concerning starting your career in the reserves,
finding about the benefits of being a reservist, and
other career oriented information good for both
Active Duty and Reservists.

If your on active duty and
thinking about getting out, this area is DEFINATELY
for you!

If you are a Navy Veteran, and
are 38 years old (a year for year waver for active
duty served beyond 38 Years of age)

If you are under 38 and have
never been on Active Duty, but are considering
joining the Navy Reserves.

The Navy Reserves provides an opportunity for
Americans to serve their country as an augmentation
to our Active Navy Forces. While providing
contributary support to various Naval activities
throughout the United States and abroad, the benefits
provided to the drilling reservist are equally
advantage. Reservists benefit from Pay, Travel,
Retirement, Life Insurance, Educational Benefits and
more...

Pay

Drilling reservists normally drill one weekend a
month and two weeks a year.

During your two weeks of active duty, you are
entitled to Base Pay per your Daily norm. This
is considered ACTIVE DUTY, not days of drill.
This important to note for retirement purposes as
well.

Your Pay is your responsibility! Monitor it
wisely.

Travel

Both Drilling and Non-Drilling (IRR) Reservists
have access to Space -A Travel. You may use this
benefit depending on your current status, you may or
may not be entitled to out of CONUS travel. Contact
your local Space-A center for their specific
requirements.

All Travel to support your AT (Active Duty
Training) is paid for by the Navy.

While a Drilling Reservist you are Entitled to
SGLI, and then you can transfer to VGLI if you desire
upon retiring from the reserves.

Inactive Ready
Reserves

The Inactive Ready Reserves or IRR is one of the
most most misunderstood programs in the Navy Reserve.
While many people are under the impression that being
in the IRR means you are waiting for your contract to
expire so you are no longer under the threat of
recall, you may be surprised to hear the
opportunities that this program has to offer.

Did you know you can still earn retirement
points while in the IRR.

Did you know that you can still participate in
ADSW and other Training. This means you could get
your AT every year if funding is available.

You are still able to keep your ID card, and
you can earn your commissary privileges by earning
50 retirement points per year.

You are entitled to use most base services.
(MWR and more).

Limitations

You are not entitled to pay, unless in a
drilling or active duty status

You are not entitled to compete for
advancement.

Web Resources on the IRR, which detail more
information on the program:

Education is quickly becoming one of the most
important things that the Navy is promoting today.
With web-based resources such as Navy-College, you
know the Navy is highly promoting education.

Let's start with what the Training opportunities
that the Navy has for you! For the most part,
unless you are on Active Duty, you will not receive
much Training, other than that afforded you on a
drill weekend. Just like sailors on Active Duty,
you can find most all the rate training manuals
online at:
Navy Rate Training Manuals Online All of these
are in PDF format, so you will need the Acrobat
Reader to read and print out these manuals.

Next, just as I spoke before about the Navy
College, if you go to www.navycollege.navy.mil
you will find a listing of all schools that you
have attended while on active duty. It also has
information on all of the DANTES/CLEPs that you
have taken, and any courses that you've used
Tuition Assistance to pay for.
It gets better, they actually provide ACE Guide
recommendations next to all of the entries on the
list. ACE (American Council on Education),
recommends college credits for military courses
that you have taken. This way you will have a good
idea where you stand if you want to transfer your
military experience for college credit.
Finally, and this website can be used by college
campuses around the world to view your
military-academic record OFFICIALLY. Most campuses
are not aware how to use this, and you should point
this out to an academic advisor at an Institution
you are attending if you are seeking college
credits from your military experience.This can expedite your
evaluation!

TheVoluntary
Educationwebsite has great information
about all the DANTES tests that are offered and
many different educational Institutions that honor
DANTES and Military experience. DANTES exams are
offered at most all military bases, and Drilling
Reservists are entitled to take these exams for
FREE. Big cost savings, and this will save you time
towards getting your degree!

To give you a head start on your search for
Educational Instutions, I want you to know about
two schools in particular who offer Accredited
Degree programs that you may be interested in. Both
of these colleges have NO
RESIDENCY REQUIREMENTS.

First, The
State University of New York Regents College.
This college has developed a website where you
can quickly see how close you are to an
associates degree. They have determined how many
college credits that they will give you based on
your Rating and Rank. They will give additional
credits for courses that are above and beyond
this. Also this college will Award Upper Level
credits for Subject Level GREs. mind you this can
be difficult, but it may quickly get you through
over a years worth of College Level work.

With Regents, you may find yourself only short
your English Composition and 18 other College
Credits (That's only 3 CLEP exams).

The other college I would recommend you
consider is Charter Oak State
College, out of Conneticut. This accredited
college provides an opportunity for you to
develop your own degree plan under the guidance
of one of the many Academic Advisors. The best
part about this college is that they don't have a
time limit on earned credits. So if you went to
school back in 1976, they will still accept those
credits towards your degree (as long as they are
from an accredited college). They are pretty good
about taking Military credits and DANTES courses.
They do expect you to have specific core
requirements (English, Math, History, Ethical
Elements, etc) in addition to your Major. So
don't kid yourself, these colleges are not degree
mills! They do expect you to earn your degree,
albeit, this is less traditional than other
methods.

If anyone out there hears of other good
opportunities that you would like to share, please
feel free to email me, and I will post the
information right here! judd@usshmj.org

My Soapbox: (This is not the
opinion of the US Navy, the Submarine force, or any
Government/Military Organization, This is only
provided to provide an open debate about the Navy's
current policy on Higher Education Requirements for
Enlisted Personnel).

The Navy's expectation
on education is so high, they have
removed points towards advancement for
people who get Associate's and Bachelor
Degrees. I think that this is a move
backwards, and doesn't give an
incentive towards other people to meet
this "standard." In fact, with this new
policy it doesn't really affect a
person towards advancement whether they
work towards a degree or not. Certainly
one could argue that it would be
reflected in your evaluation, but how
can you fault an Outstanding Sailor who
does other things that are above and
beyond, and reward someone who is MORE
concerned with the degree, rather than
the mission of Navy business. Let's
face it, if Enlisted people had
Bachelor's Degrees when they were
signing up, they probably would have
chosen a Commission. With Programs like
the LDO program and Seaman to Admiral
Program, how can anyone say that having
a Degree is the norm for Enlisted
personnel... I would like to hear any
feedback anyone has concerning my
SoapBox atjudd@usshmj.org